Rudolf Sikora

“Something fantastic was happening in this seminary of ours, in this branch they had created. We were the class of 1968/1969, we graduated in 1974, after that, they would shut it down, as they didn't need such a thing anymore. They had to destroy it. But the great thing was that there were all those extraordinary teachers. Most of them studied in Rome, they got their doctor's degrees in Rome, and they were in prison. They were released in 1968, or even sooner, and they started teaching at this Olomouc branch. And it was just great. As all those extraordinary men would give us lectures. Later, they revoked their permissions again. After that, they would help us at those cottages where we would gather so we could continue our education.”

“Communists had been playing this double game. On the outside, they would be telling you there was freedom in the country and you could do just anything you wanted to. They would proclaim abroad, that everything was just great, that communism grants even freedom of religion, but what kind of freedom was that? We will take a bit here, we will make this little concession, and the rest we will manipulate. Their goal was clear. Quite often, it was just a travesty of the freedom of religion. Do this and that, but if you wanted anything else, it just wasn't possible. Priests couldn't meet with young people, they couldn't go to another parish. A secretary would watch over you, they won't give you permission. Later, when we started working as priests, we couldn't act otherwise. We were under constant surveillance. There was this secretary sitting among priests at every conference. And what was the whole point? In most cases, those secretaries were in contact with State Security (StB). It was just a travesty.”

“Then there was collectivization. That was hard, quite violent. My father was unemployed for some time, they would dismiss him, because my family didn't want to join a collective farm (JZD). They would try to change our minds in quite a brutal manner. I remember that, being a boy, how they were trying to convince my parents who just didn't want to sign in. My mother had a nervous breakdown. They would take her to a hospital in an ambulance. They were quite brutish. And I was so angry they were hurting my mother, being her son, I would bite the hand of one of the officials who were trying to convince them. So at that moment I just took it out on him, all my grief and anger.”